A prank carried out in public, often at the physical or emotional expense of the prankee.

Examples of Russian Pranks:

1) Setting fire to a newspaper someone is reading
2) Pulling a carpet out from someone's feet, causing them to fall
3) Dropping water on someone's head from a balcony
4) Pushing a person standing on a dock into the water
5) Putting a bucket on the head of a sleeping person, then waking them abruptly
6) Throwing a cat into someone's car